The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is Scotland's premier independent marine science organisation generating new knowledge for the benefit of the marine environment and society since 1884.

My research focuses on the interactions between marine viruses and their interplay with microalgal host organisms, which are important to global biogeochemical cycles and the climate. My work spans multiple scales of biological organization, ranging from the effects of genomic and functional variability of viruses on infectivity, the physiological response of host cells to infection, the effect of environmental factors (e.g. nutrient availability) on host susceptibility to infection and virus production, and the extent to which virus-infection influences host ecology and, by extension, the fate of cell-associated organic and inorganic matter in the ocean. Other research interests include the study of microbe-microbe interactions in corals and the evolutionary relationships of algal viruses, their hosts and other taxa on the tree of life.

The tools I use in my work include a combination of molecular biology and physiological approaches to collect data on host-microbe interactions in the laboratory and the natural environment (e.g. quantitative PCR, community fingerprinting, sequencing, photophysiology and respiration, enzyme activity assays, electron microscopy, analytical flow cytometry, and FlowCam imaging). I also have a diverse fieldwork experience, which includes my participation in time-series experiments (incubations), oceanographic cruises, and large-scale mesocosm experiments.

Current projects

Algal-Poly: The project aims to identify the type of polysaccharides produced by microalgae in response to biotic and abiotic stress, and the properties of these polysaccharides as it relates to ‘marine snow’ particle aggregation. Funded by a Research Incentive grant from The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. 2019-2020.

This collaborative project aimed to bridge existing gaps in the mechanistic and quantitative understanding of viruses as agents of phytoplankton mortality and their impact on biogeochemical processes.

Using lab-based experiments with a coccolithophore host-virus model system, as well as extensive datasets from virus-infected natural coccolithophore blooms in the North Atlantic, this project aimed to elucidate the impact of nutrient-limitation and host cell fitness on virus infection, and to what degree the dependence of viral infection on nutrient supply impacts large scale biogeochemistry and biogeography of a globally significant phytoplankton species.

The interdisciplinary approach combined molecular- and flow cytometry-based diagnostic techniques, with the development of mathematical models of infection, to understand the primary mechanisms underlying observed host-virus dynamics.

Examining the molecular biology and biochemistry of the lipid-based molecular arms-race regulating interactions between the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi and its Coccolithovirus.

Rutgers University / Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (USA), 2013-15

A key aspect of this project was to elucidate if the competitive ecology of coccolithophore-infecting viruses is shaped at the level of a key functional gene—serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), a rate-limiting enzyme that regulates lipid-based arms race and successful infection.

As part of this work, the structural and catalytic biochemical differences in several coccolithovirus-encoded SPTs was characterized, and it was shown that virus-derived glycosphingolipid ‘virulence factors’ exert a fundamental control on coccolithovirus infection, and that their rate of production during infection can dictate the competitive interactions between different viruses over the host machinery for infection and replication.

Through targeted next-generation sequencing of natural populations and mathematical modelling, this work was also the first to link structural enzyme biochemistry with competitive ecology of coccolithoviruses.

In addition, the work provided foundational knowledge for how coccolithoviruses operate and interface with their algal hosts in natural environments, which are characterized by a higher diversity of different host and virus genotypes.

Past teaching experience

Invited Lecturer in the US and UK on virus ecology (2013-2018), module developer for undergraduate students at Rutgers University in the USA ('Ocean science inquiry'; 2017-2018), and an advanced level graduate and postdoc summer school Lecturer at the AQUACOSM Mesocosm course at Imperial College London (2019).

Expert advice to regulators / government

Grant proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the USA Biological Oceanography program

Research expeditions

2017: Mesocosm experiment in the Norwegian fjords of Bergen, Norway

2015: Scientific cruise at Station ALOHA (Hawaii) on board R/V Kilo Moana, in collaboration with the Centre for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (CMORE) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

2010: European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA): Arctic Campaign. A mesocosm experiment in the Fjord near Ny-Alesund Research Station, Svalbard, conducted in collaboration with scientists from more than 30 countries

Outreach/public engagement

2015 - 2018: Development of short videos about marine science as an educational tool for children aged 12-18 (as part of a 2015 NSF funded grant and the national Next Generation Teaching Standards in the USA). http://toolsofscience.org/index.html

2014 & 2018 Science judge for the annual Shore Bowl competition in New Jersey, USA (a regional academic competition for high school students in NJ, NY, and PA that focuses on ocean-related topics).

Education qualifications

2013 PhD Biosciences. The University of Nottingham (UK) in partnership with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory

2009 MRes Marine Biology. University of Plymouth (UK) in partnership with the Marine Biological Associciation of the UK

2008 BSc (Hons) Marine Biology. University of Plymouth (UK)

About us

The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) has been delivering independent marine science since 1884. Based in Oban, 150 staff are working for healthy and sustainably managed seas and oceans through world-class marine research, education and engagement with society.Learn more about us…